Rob Chubb shoots against Long Beach State earlier this season (Todd Van Emst, Auburn)

AUBURN, Alabama -- To develop softer hands and lose his reputation for butterfingers in the paint, Auburn center Rob Chubb has tried everything short of getting receivers coach Trooper Taylor to shoot basketballs at him through a JUGS machine.

Sometimes, however, his hands still fail him.

"I'll look in the mirror and be like, 'What are you doing?' I'll look at my hands and be like, 'You guys are embarrassing me. Stop it!'" Chubb said with a laugh.

"I've been trying to work on catches. ... I've started doing more tennis-ball, hand-eye coordination stuff to get it back on track. Hopefully, that'll smooth it over."

Auburn (11-7, 1-3 SEC) hosts South Carolina (8-9, 0-3) at 12:47 p.m. today in a game televised by the SEC Network.

Chubb is coming off his first career double-double (15 points and 12 rebounds), and he is -- by most statistical measures -- the most improved and most important player on Auburn's team.

Yet every measure of improvement seems to come with a struggle.

Last year, he shot less than 50 percent from the free-throw line. This year, he was nearing 90 percent until he missed four in a row in Tuesday's overtime loss at LSU.

"I don't know what to say," he said. "It was an off day, to say the least."

Chubb made shots on offense and helped anchor the defense against LSU, but committed five turnovers and drew the ire of coach Tony Barbee for his inability to hold onto the ball in the paint.

"We work on it religiously," said an exasperated Barbee of Chubb's hands. "Instead of catching balls, he bats them down."

Yet there remains no doubt that Chubb is vital to Auburn's success, and when he's on the bench, the Tigers' offense and defense suffers.

When Chubb is on the floor, AU outscores opponents 803-687 (plus-116). When he's on the bench, AU is outscored 483-370 (minus-113). No other player on Auburn's roster comes close to that level of production.

Barbee described winless South Carolina as being desperate and therefore dangerous, but the same could be said about Auburn. In a season in which wins could be tough to come by, winning at home against a weak opponent is imperative.

"They need this win as bad as us, if not worse," Chubb said. "They're not getting anything here."

Auburn's only home loss of the season came in a surprisingly fierce battle against Kentucky 10 days ago. Since then, the Tigers have beaten Ole Miss in double overtime and lost at LSU in overtime. The only blowout loss of the SEC season, in the opener at Vanderbilt, looks less ugly now that the Commodores have surged to a dominant 4-0 start.

But Barbee said the Gamecocks also are likely better than their record indicates.

"They're a good team, and they're playing better now that (Bruce) Ellington has got his basketball legs back from his football legs," he said. "They've played Vandy, Florida and Kentucky in their first three games. They're in desperation mode, and we know that. But hey, we're 1-3, and so are we. We have to take care of our home court."